Sealed with a Kiss

SOMEWHERE AT SEA....

A woman sat on a small rocky outcropping, shivering slightly as the night breeze pricked her newly exposed wet skin. Beside her, a sealskin sat in a soggy puddle.

With a tired sigh, she folded the sealskin and carefully wedged it underwater between two boulders so that it would be safe from drying out, or from being found.

Her father’s voice echoed in her head: “Find a human, mate with it, and return quickly. Bring us healthy young.”

She was haunted by the ghosts of dozens of stillborn babies. Her herd hadn’t had a living pup in years. They’d even allowed some males to try to impregnate human women, so long as the woman lived near the shore and any resulting child could be fetched home to the sea. It made more sense for the females to come back with a babe, though.

Carefully spaced and timed across their herd’s vast territory, they’d tried to conceive using humans without revealing their presence. Although a Finfolk child wasn’t guaranteed from such pairings, they put their hopes on the chance it would be. Hopes that had so far been dashed.

Once she’d become accustomed to the chilly spring air, she stretched out her limbs and dipped her toes into the water before slipping her whole body in and swimming for shore with strong confident strokes. She knew that her time on land would cause a constant ache deep inside her, longing for the sea, but duty drove her onwards.

She’d been to shore a few times already in the past years, and returned home, filled with hope and human seed. Now, she was here once more, womb empty and heart heavy.

By the next evening, the woman was fed, clothed, and ready to begin her hunt. Even in plain, unassuming clothes, acquired from a shelter, her beauty was unparalleled. Deep brown hair, pulled into a loose braid, large eyes so dark they were almost black, and pale creamy skin that looked like it had never seen the sun.

Heads turned as she walked down the high street into a busy pub and sat at the bar.

“Evenin’ Miss” The stunned bartender was immediately at her service, wiping down the slightly sticky bar in front of her. “What can I get for you?”

“A small glass of white wine, if you please” The woman’s voice was lyrical, with a thick accent - maybe Orcadian? It was ancient and other-worldly, and absolutely melted his heart. And apparently, the hearts of the men around her.

“Put on it on my tab!” One immediately called to the barman

“No no, here’s a twenty, and get one for yerself, Gus.” Another waved a £20 note high in the air

“Please, hen, let me get yer drink!” A starry-eyed older man took her hand.

Half a dozen men scrambled to pay for her drink. She smiled at each of them in turn, but offered one lucky young man a seat next to her.

He was young, barely twenty, and had the look of a lad that was used to winning in life. His cheeks were rough and ruddy from outdoor work, and a muscular physique showed through his slightly grubby tee shirt.

The other men huffed, but didn’t argue the lady’s choice.

Once the crowd of eager suitors had dispersed, looking forlornly back at their lost prize, the strange woman placed a hand on that of her target.

“Thank you” she said in her soft lilting voice.

“Anything for such a pretty face.” His hand moved to her thigh. He was also on the hunt, and already enouraged by a few pints of ale."You're not from around here, are you?"

His grasp of the obvious was astounding. But the woman didn't need someone smart, just someone healthy and willing.

"No, I am not. I am here for a short time only, but so lonely." She lowered her eyes demurely and folded her delicate hands in her lap, the very picture of a damsel in distress.

Gus watched the pair with curiosity as he filled the small stemmed glass with the house white and place it in on the bar in front of the beautiful woman. She looked out of place in his small-town pub, and something about her niggled at the back of his mind. Her hair was a little too shiny, her eyes too big, and her pale skin too smooth. The more he stared at her, with inobtrusive surreptious glances, of course, the more suspicious he became. As a man who observed human nature for a living, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something vaguely inhuman about her.

But she wasn't causing trouble, nor was Johnny, the young local who was leaning closer and closer to her, so Gus shrugged off his uneasiness and focused once more on filling his patrons' pints and filling his own till.

"You never told me your name, babe," Johnny's breath was hot and heavy with alcohol.

"Do you need my name for what we are about to do?" She turned to face him, revealing seductive bedroom eyes. She slowly lifted a hand and parted one side of her loose cardigan to reveal an ample bosom barely contained by a lacy black camisole.

Johnny's breath caught in his throat at the sudden sight of creamy flesh. He reached out, and found that the gorgeous creature didn't stop him. He slipped a hand across the side of one glorious breast and behind her back, slowly drawing her off her stool and onto his lap.

The woman felt his excitement through the front of his jeans and the seat of her skirt, and revelled in her success. She squirmed on his lap, rubbing her bottom against the throbbing erection. Johnny didn't even care about the voyeuristic show they they were creating in full view of all the patrons of the pub. It was he most exciting thing that had ever happened to him.

"Wanna get out of here?" He murmured hoarsely in her ear. "My place is only a couple blocks away."

She didn't reply only pressed her lips to his and kissed him deeply, passionately.

Johnny suddenly pulled away. "You're not a hoor, are you?"

The woman's seductive espression crinkled into merry laughter. "I am not for sale."

Relieved, Johnny slapped the cash for his tab on the counter.

"Let's go then, darlin'. I have something grand for you." He have his bulging crotch a proud tug.

She slipped lithly from his lap and tucked hereself into the crook of his arm. With all eyes on them, they walked together through the pub and into the darkening Spring night.